Article

Confidence in the Face of Change

Agility, Interoperability, and Scalability Enable Digital Business

by Dr. Marco Lenck | SAPinsider, Volume 18, Issue 4

November 9, 2017

The impact digitization has had on business is immeasurable, and new opportunities continue to arise. Organizations traveling down this road expect market leaders such as SAP and its partners to help them navigate the digital economy. But as innovation bounds forward, SAP customers must feel confident that their core ERP systems remain stable in the face of change. Read on to hear why now is the time to explore new business processes and routes to market and how increased agility, improved interoperability, and scalable licensing can help organizations forge a path forward.

The impact digitization has had on business is immeasurable, and new opportunities continue to arise. Organizations traveling down this road expect market leaders such as SAP and its partners to provide the right strategies — supported by the right products — that can help them navigate the digital economy.

Agility is the key to digitization, and modern organizations simply do not have time for lengthy upgrade cycles. They also can’t afford to wait for system integration: Existing systems must be able to seamlessly connect with new processes via improved and secure interoperability. And as companies and their networks of devices continue to grow, flexible and scalable licensing models will become even more important for adapting to digital business.

Increased Agility

ERP systems need to be user friendly and agile enough to respond to customer demand, with upgrades that are quick and easy to implement. Platforms and processes must be able to adapt to change, and new functionality and enhancements should be regularly provided for key software investments, such as SAP S/4HANA. Overlapping solutions should be restructured and presented as a portfolio of solutions, creating an end-to-end value chain and enabling future digital projects of any complexity level. Consolidating solutions will also allow companies to have a smaller IT footprint, saving both time and maintenance costs. Ultimately, users will need guidance on how to best keep their ERP systems stable while also exploring more flexible and modern platforms.

Improved Interoperability

Digital processes require interoperability, both in terms of technical and economic requirements, especially when internal systems are integrated with external partners and devices. Cloud computing, therefore, can foster enhanced business networks, collaboration platforms, cross-business applications, and mobile solutions. SAP Cloud Platform can provide the bridge that connects processes with people, machines, products, and external data. Redundant master or operational data needs to be eliminated so that it doesn’t hinder the transfer of information between these systems.

Due to this increased exposure, central systems must be protected with more than just internal access authorization and external firewalls. With more processing taking place outside of a company’s network, secure communication with partners will take priority and integrated identity management will become even more prevalent in hybrid, cloud-to-cloud, and Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios.

Scalable Licensing

To keep pace with the speed of innovation, licensing models must be scalable, adaptable, and user focused. Static contracts are not ideal for digitization projects where the number of users and devices could change at any moment. In many cases, users have turned to consumption-based or pay-as-you-go models where they can control their use of software and services in a way that best benefits their business. As modern technology continues to evolve, so should licensing practices.

Confidence in the Face of Change

Now is the time to take full advantage of the digital economy and explore new business processes and routes to market. But as innovation bounds forward, SAP customers must feel confident that their core ERP systems remain stable in the face of change. With increased agility, improved interoperability, and scalable licensing, organizations can forge a path forward knowing that their business is built on strong software investments and the support of SAP, its partners, and the DSAG user community.

While the use of cloud-based solutions is on the rise, on-premise solutions remain a critical part of IT infrastructures. To help minimize the administrative burden of managing these hybrid environments,...